Our favorite cozy games (for now)
All the games I'm playing right now that center empathy, kindness, friendship, and satisfying gameplay.
Latest
Pokopia is my post-gender utopia
The most recent Pokémon game takes a lax attitude toward gender and pronouns
“Disobedience will not be tolerated”: On linearity, subservience and feminine agency in Metroid Dread
“You have followed my instructions faithfully thus far. Continue to do so.”
In Dispatch, Blonde Blazer and Invisigal don't get equal screentime. But it’s “not developer bias,” Adhoc says
“It's not developer bias or a writing choice to elevate one character over another — it's us trying to stay true to who they are.”
Am I using polyamory as a crutch because my partner doesn't play games?
"I don't want to force my nesting partner to try to get into exactly the same things that I'm into when we already have so much important stuff in common. Am I just looking for a reason to be anxious?"
'Any objections, Lady?': On linearity, subservience and feminine agency in Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Other M
“Understood, Adam. No objections, of course.”
Metroid
“Disobedience will not be tolerated”: On linearity, subservience and feminine agency in Metroid Dread
“You have followed my instructions faithfully thus far. Continue to do so.”
'Any objections, Lady?': On linearity, subservience and feminine agency in Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Other M
“Understood, Adam. No objections, of course.”
How vaginal imagery in Metroid Prime 4 redefines Samus — and why it matters for shooters
Yonic architecture is a constant, from the moment the player is given control of Samus until the very end.
Dear Mother
Am I using polyamory as a crutch because my partner doesn't play games?
"I don't want to force my nesting partner to try to get into exactly the same things that I'm into when we already have so much important stuff in common. Am I just looking for a reason to be anxious?"
It's time for a tolerance break
How do I fight the compulsion of falling into the comfort of the same game again and again, and play new games, see new worlds instead?
How do I get better at first-person shooters?
"Are there any good games, new or old, that encourage learning this mysterious combination of moving, pointing, and shooting that I seem to lack?"
How do you learn to use camera controls in video games?
It does take some intentional learning time to get used to using one joystick to move and the other to look around
Cozy
In a post-slop world, Tomodachi Life’s humor rings hollow
Inject it into my veins, or don’t, I don’t really care
Finally, a nesting game that gets the lighting right
It's your job to make that isometric house an isometric home
What happens when all the Pokémon fans are dead?
Chris Plante on how Pokopia lets you rebuild your childhood, if only for a moment
10 years in, Stardew Valley's binary approach to gender still gets a failing grade
We can marry whoever we like in Pelican Town, so why no they/them pronouns?
Indie
17 indie developers who are making games about messy, sometimes toxic, queer romance
A series of profiles of participants in the Toxic Yuri Visual Novel Jam and other similar game jams
Consume Me got me to stop save-scumming and delete perfectionism
If I could, I would restart every day to do it better
Kara Stone is creating low-carbon games
A future where games can be played without burning fossil fuels
In Esoteric Ebb, men talk to men about manhood, and that's a good thing
It does not shy away from the things many of us are always thinking about when we interact with others, like, “Who are you voting for?” and “What does being a man mean to you?”